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American Electric Power has agreed to stop burning coal at three power plants, part of a deal that revises a landmark 2007 settlement.

The Columbus-based utility will make the changes by mid-2015 at Muskingum River near Beverly, Ohio; Tanners Creek near Lawrenceburg, Ind., and Big Sandy near Louisa, Ky., according to a plan made public yesterday.

In exchange, the other parties in the case will allow AEP to use a less-expensive pollution-control technology at its Rockport, Ind., plant. The utility stands to save up to $2.6 billion because of the change.

AEP already had said it plans to shut down or repurpose Muskingum River and Big Sandy. That leaves Tanners Creek as the only one of the three that will follow a different course as a result of the agreement.

The key point is that the new plan is legally binding, so AEP cannot change its mind about Muskingum River and Big Sandy without reopening the case, said Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action, an environmental group that is one of the parties.

“This agreement will provide some substantial reductions in pollution, particularly from sulfur dioxide and other dangerous pollutants from coal-fired power plants,” she said.

Among the other concessions, AEP agreed to pay a total of $8.5 million to eight states to be used to deal with the effects of pollution, and to develop 200 megawatts of wind power in Indiana.

AEP sought to renegotiate parts of the 2007 settlement because it wanted to use newer, less-expensive technology in Rockport, said spokeswoman Melissa McHenry.

“We’re pleased to be able to reach a modification of the agreement that allows us to have an environmental benefit at a lower cost to our customers,” she said. “Ultimately, these costs get passed on to customers through utility rates.”

With this revision, AEP will see a huge reduction in its costs at the same time that the company’s power plants will emit fewer pollutants than they would have under the initial agreement.

The 2007 settlement was among AEP, environmental groups, states and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At the time, the EPA estimated that the utility would spend $4.6 billion to retrofit its plants and make other changes, leading to reductions in air pollution that would save an estimated $32 billion in health-care costs.

The initial plan called for AEP to install a technology called “flue gas desulfurization” in Rockport, which the company now estimates would cost$2 billion to $3 billion. Under the new plan, AEP will be allowed to use a less-expensive option, called “dry sorbent injection,” which will cost an estimated $400 million to$600 million. The difference could range from $1.4 billion to $2.6 billion.

The new method does not reduce pollution as much as the previous one. But AEP, which had $14.9 billion in sales and $1.3 billion in profit last year, will pollute less because of the other elements of the plan, McHenry said.

Environmental groups touted the deal as a victory for public health and a sign that coal is on its way out as a fuel for power plants.

“Tanners Creek, Big Sandy and Muskingum River are dirty and outdated plants that should have been cleaned up or retired decades ago,” Shannon Fisk, an attorney with Earthjustice who was co-counsel for the Sierra Club in this case, said in a statement.

Eight states were part of the negotiations, led by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. Her office said the new portions of the agreement are worth $8.5 million, of which her state will get $1 million to be used to deal with the effects of air pollution.

“This settlement will require the company to dramatically reduce its harmful plant emissions, invest in more renewable energy resources, and provide funds for programs to mitigate the effects of sulfur-dioxide pollution,” she said in a statement.

The other states are Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.